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Chicago, July 20, '71 Dear Jack:
Your letter of July 15 received last Saturday, and I will pass on the information you gave as to Targ. I know I have one or two of World Publishing Co. books around somewhere, having had occasion to buy some foreign language dictionaries and some books out of a cheap edition of Mark Twain's works a long time ago. Thanks for the information. Every now and then Tullman wants to get in touch with someone he knew. They usually don't respond, and I'd bet a lot that that cheap S. O. B. Rube Menken is one of those. As I mentioned in a previous letter, I once reached him by 'phone (another request by Tullman), during the course of which conversation he offered to "meet me sometime" and he'd buy a coffee. Imagine, a whole coffee. I've been disappointed in both the Des' O'Connor and the Val Doonican shows the past few times, as they've been featuring the stereotyped, short on talent people such as the American comedienne on last Wednesday's Kraft Show (I can't recall her name just now, but a protegée of Paar) handwritten insert in left margin: (Phyllis Diller, A Tiresome. Unnchanging routine). and Leslie Uggams last Saturday night. England has an abundance of big talent that we seldom or never see. But of course, I suppose Doonican and O'Connor have little to say about these programs, as it's apparently American money backing the shows under ATV-TV sponsorship (the independent Lou Grade TV organization) and maybe American producers, who, no matter who gets his/her own program, manage to have a lot of chorus people jumping up and down and dancing (?) in the same, tired old way. Filling-in the time, I suppose. I well remember a few of the shows (all-British) I've seen over there, especially at Brighton, the try-out town for London. Uproarious comedy, fine singers and dancers, all doing original things. In the summer of 1924, while my wife and I were on our honeymoon, we saw a musical-comedy group at Maidstone, first time I ever saw the comedy sketch wherein one comic tries to pull a tablecloth off a table without moving the dishes, etc. after his "mate" has already done so successfully. The sketch was called "Bed & Breakfast," with two down-at-the-heels roustabouts and a shrewish landlady. In this show there was a gypsy caravan scene wherein a woman singer with a splendid voice sang Where My Caravan Has Rested, a song written by a Kent song writer who made many songs and was probably never known over here, which is due to the kind of people who have dominated the music world, screwed-up the movies and radio,
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